The Devil's Dictionary: Seine

Updated May 14, 2020 | Infoplease Staff
by Ambrose Bierce
SEAL
SELF-ESTEEM

SEINE

-n.

A kind of net for effecting an involuntary change of environment. For fish it is made strong and coarse, but women are more easily taken with a singularly delicate fabric weighted with small, cut stones.

The devil casting a seine of lace,
(With precious stones 'twas weighted)
Drew it into the landing place
And its contents calculated.
All souls of women were in that sack —
A draft miraculous, precious!
But ere he could throw it across his back
They'd all escaped through the meshes.

- Baruch de Loppis

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